Florida Escapades – not to be confused with Florida Ice Capades! (The last copy and paste from Florida)

I believe my post about the travails of getting to Florida ended with our arrival in the sunshine state and my husband’s miraculous job of ‘parking’ the RV. I will try to fill you in on the rest.

I must start with a HUGE thank you to Ingrid for allowing us to park in her driveway and for allowing us to hook up to her electric. That can only be followed up with another HUGE thank you to ‘my dad’ who is the one who rigged all the wiring to work in the first place. It was his invitation to the 51st Anniversary Dinner that started this whole RV excursion in the first place.

We went to dinner the first night we were here with Ingrid and Bernard. Joan wasn’t feeling well and we left mom behind as well. We knew the next few days would be busy and we didn’t want to overtax her. We went to The Clock Tower Grille only to find out it had gone out of business since the last time Bernie had eaten there. (Oops!)

On to a restaurant called Flakowitz. It sounds like a name you would call someplace you can’t remember the exact name of – but that really IS the name of it! They survive because they cater to all the alta kockers who are sad they left New York. “What is an alta kocker”, I hear you ask. The translation I found says an A.K. is an old fart.

Flakowitz serves stuff you see on Delancey Street. Knishes, kishka, kasha vanishkas, sour pickles, tongue, brisket, flanken (only on Fridays, sadly for me), chicken soup with matzoh balls, overstuffed sandwiches, potato latkes, and babka. We had a fun time in there and Ken committed the ultimate sin – he ordered a tongue sandwich and a glass of milk! That’s my husband.

The fates are against me. I cannot continue on about Florida because it is starting to drizzle and it is supposed to rain. As badly as my computer is behaving I do not want to kill it completely by drowning it! I will have to continue at another time or from a different location or both.

Happiness and Joy,
~ Kassidee

Lake Charles, La

Welcome 'home'? It is nice to be here when I know it's only a week. It is overcast and threatening to rain. I already miss Florida!

I have no time to post right now but wanted to at least say hello. I should have internet access the whole time we are here which is at least 5 days if not 7 so I should be able to catch up and get up to date.

Looking forward to that!
More soon,
~ Kass

Moving on

Hello! This post will be short but it's better than no post at all. Tomorrow (Monday) we are leaving Florida and heading west to Lake Charles. As I wrote on facebook - I'm looking forward to seeing friends and family and then moving on! LOL

I have another post to copy and paste when I have a few more minutes and I still want to give you more details about our stay in the sunshine state.

I hope everyone is doing well and having fun. Onward and upward toward the New Year!

~ Kassidee

Copy and Paste Christmas Ramblings

Hello again and Merry Christmas evening one and all. I am staying in a very friendly community where walking down the road everyone says Merry Christmas as you walk by. In the mornings and evenings when folks are out walking their dogs, everyone says hello to each other. It’s quite nice.

I am once again having connection issues with my laptop and I am saving this to my word processor to post later. I am typing at 9:30 P.M. on Christmas night. I am down on the dock with the scent of ocean on the breeze. It is humid and warm and the wind is picking up a bit.

The boats are swaying gently and I love hearing the creeks and groans. As I look around I can see white lights adorning the homes along the waterway. If you aren’t going to have snow for Christmas, this is a nice second! The palm trees are silhouetted against the sky and reflected in the barely rippling water. It is one of those times I wish I could paint so I could capture the moment and keep it forever. The kind of memory you want to tuck away and save for those days when you need a smile and a reminder of better times. It really is wonderful to know you are in the middle of ‘one of those times’ worth remembering. I want to drink it in and I want to share it with you. Thanks for being out here in cyberspace to share it with me.

I want to wish everyone a joyous, healthy and prosperous New Year. May peace find you, and joy comfort you. May good things wrap you up like a hug from an old and dear friend and may you find the strength to cope with all the things that come your way. These are not easy times we are going through and I hope no one out there feels they are going through them alone. We are one big global family and though some feel the internet is making us anti-social, I feel that my family of friends has increased dramatically because of the internet and I wouldn’t trade these friends for the world. We might not recognize each other walking down the street, but the care and concern and feelings we have for each other are no less valid than with the people I know ‘in person’.

I am grateful for the good friends I have and the family I have created, as well as the ones I am actually related to! It is good to know you are all out there.

I am rambling and getting sentimental – and I am stone cold sober. Imagine if I drank tonight at dinner! LOL

I will tell you about our escapades in Florida in another post but rest assured we are having a wonderful time.

Merry Happy!
~Kass

Thank heavens for copy and paste!

Welcome to Florida – the land of the missing wifi signal ☺

We have had quite the adventuresome few days. I’ll give you the highlights.

Driving south out of Georgia we were looking for a place to spend the night after crossing the border into the land of palm trees and the engine cut out. Needless to say the next exit was where we spent the night. Luckily there was a Sam’s Club and they were closed so we weren’t in anybody’s way. Ken was pretty sure it was nothing more than a gas cap issue and it seems that he was correct.

We were up at 7 and on the road at 7:45 A.M (a miracle of sorts given all we have to do before we can leave). We were tooling along minding our own business when at 8:45 Ken was told by a passing vehicle that we had a flat on the toad. (Toad = towed – as in the car we are towing behind the RV). We pulled off on the shoulder of the highway and sure enough we had not just a flat but a completely shredded tire. I’m sorry I didn’t get a photo – it was a real doosie. (Where does that expression come from, anyway?).

Forty-five minutes later the tire was changed and we were back on the road. Once again, we were minding our own business when (and you can’t make this stuff up) I-95 was closed. All three lanes were closed we were detoured off the highway and onto Highway 1.

We followed the detour signs past another entrance onto I-95 and on down to where the detour had us get back on the highway. The only problem was that to get on at this location required a left turn across Highway 1. To say there was a traffic jam is an understatement. Ken was standing still for about half an hour when he decided to turn around and go back north to the other entrance to 95. Luckily, he decided right and we breezed back onto the highway. All was right with the world – except that we needed gas (badly) and the next exit was the one we had just sat in traffic at to get on the highway. We didn’t really have much choice so we got off and gassed up. At least the gas was cheap! We managed to get through the traffic and back on the highway while looking at the long line of traffic that we still would have been sitting in at the light had Ken not turned around. Argh. Sadly, we found out the road was closed due to an accident at 4 A.M. in which there was a fatality.

It took us 4 hours to go 100 miles. The rest of the drive was a breeze after that and we arrived at our destination with plenty of daylight left. When I show you the space Ken managed to squeeze the RV into – you won’t believe it. I don’t believe it and I watched! However – when you see the view we have – I think you will agree with me that it was WELL worth the effort it took to get here!

I’ll leave it at that for now and try to post this as soon as I have service. For now I will save it to my word processor. Happy Merry Christmas Eve.

Sunday night in Georgia

We had a lovely day celebrating 'being together' and the holidays with Ken's family. I guess after 11 years of marriage they are also 'my' family - but you know what I mean. (Don't you?)

We ate and drank and talked and watched football and talked some more. It was a great afternoon.

Now we are back on the RV and Daagh went to get his son and they will stop by for a quick visit.

Tomorrow morning we head out for Florida.

I'm keeping this short and I'm off to work on a new pair of socks. I will post a picture of the first pair I knit and also the scarf I made for Aunt Nancy. I still have to weave the ends in before we get to La., but I love the way it came out! :)

Here's to a great week - I hope your weekend was wonderful!
~ Kass

Chanukah Reflections

Although Chanukah is over, I thought this was a nice photo of my mom reflected in the mirror behind our little traveling menorah. I wanted to share it with all of you.

We are off to a pre-Christmas dinner with Ken's step-mom and step sisters and their families. Sadly, his dad is no longer with us but it will be nice to see everyone. It's been far too long.

Daagh is on his way to pick up his son so we can see him before we head out of Georgia. I am grateful for that. He is a great kid and we don't get to see him often enough.

Tomorrow morning we head out for Florida. This was a really nice campground and I wish I had more time to enjoy it. Ken and I have to take a relaxing trip in this thing rather than use it as a mode of transportation between one set of friends and the next! We'll get it right one of these days.

I'm not sure how much snow we missed up north but it seems like our neck of the woods didn't get slammed and so I am happy. If they get too much snow while we are gone, my friends will never let me hear the end of it. Also, Ken will never forgive me for the snowshoeing we are missing!

I better head out - I don't want to be late.
Happy Merry,
~ Kass